Defending individual liberty against the tyranny of government.
Truth, justice and the American way: liberty without compromise.

Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life,liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. - Frédéric Bastiat

Perry Eidelbus,Der Eidelblogger

Westchester,New York

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The power of peaceful protest

NBC has decided to cancel "The Book of Daniel" after only four shows. From what I've read, every main character was deliberately controversial. I am a Christian, and since such a show would certainly offend me, I had no intention of ever watching it. Most TV viewers in the United States also chose not to watch it, for whatever personal reasons they had. They may have skipped it out of disinterest, not because it really offended them. Others may have been radically ignorant (completely unaware) of the show.

The various Christian groups who protested the show achieved their desired results. I won't say they "won," because I suspect more people decided the show sounded more stupid than offensive. Regardless, the show's cancellation neither pleases me nor dismays me. Since I had no intention of ever watching it, it does not affect me whether it is broadcasted or whether it is not. I don't watch that much TV, anyway. Other than Trek reruns and the occasional worthwhile movie on cable channels, the only show I watch regularly is "Prison Break" (and I can't wait for it to resume in March).

What does please me is that the protestors did not abuse the power of government to achieve their goal. Too often we call upon the state to ban or censor that which offends us. Unfortunately, a lot of my fellow "right-wing Christians" feel there should be such censorship. Conversely, many ACLU members probably (and erroneously) consider the protests "an attack on free speech."

How long, I wonder, would a show last if it were about a Muslim imam who secretly ate pork and had frank discussions with Mohammed?

1 Comments:

I'm actually a little disappointed, because I enjoyed the show somewhat (only saw the pilot, but my mom really liked it.) I'm Catholic, and the hardest I laughed was when the Episcopalean minister went to the Catholic priest in order to get in contact with the mob.

But that's neither here nor there, for as you pointed out, it was not censorship nor a free speech violation. However, as you also said, I'm sure many of the people who got the show cancelled would not have minded if the government would have stepped in.

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"You are not to inquire how your trade may be increased, nor how you are to become a great and powerful people, but how your liberties can be secured; for liberty ought to be the direct end of your government."
- Patrick Henry, 1788